Raiders offense collapses after dominant 1st half

When multiplatinum recording artist Nelly performed his smash hit “Hot in Herre” at halftime of Sunday’s game at Allegiant Stadium, he easily could have been describing the Raiders’ first-half offense.

But that group came out ice cold in the second half of an epic meltdown that ended in a wild 29-23 overtime loss to the Cardinals.

“We have to learn how to win, and that starts with me,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “It always will. We did not execute each play (in the second half) with the detail we should have and that we did in the first half.”

There were plenty to blame for the largest blown lead in franchise history, but the numbers on offense were staggering.

After completing 18 of 24 attempts for 210 yards and two scores in the first half, Carr was stifled after the break, going 7-for-15 for 42 yards and no touchdowns.

Carr led a drive inside the 10-yard line late in the third quarter that included a 47-yard pass interference penalty, but the Raiders settled for a field goal to extend their lead to 23-7 with 1:41 remaining in the quarter.

That’s when things bogged down for the offense. The following drive resulted in a three-and-out on three straight incompletions and little time coming off the clock.

After a Cardinals’ touchdown, Josh Jacobs ran twice for 10 yards and a Raiders’ first down. Then he got hit in the backfield for a 4-yard loss, and Carr connected with Darren Waller on two short passes that didn’t get the Raiders to the chains.

They didn’t get another offensive snap in regulation.

That’s 14 yards on eight plays for one first down and less than four minutes of possession in the fourth quarter, a perfect formula for suffering the first loss in franchise history in which the Raiders led by 16 or more points when entering the final 15 minutes.

It was also the first time the team had lost a game in which it led by more than 18 points at any time.

Coach Josh McDaniels made sure not to point the finger at Carr for the second-half struggles that saw the Raiders get three points on five possessions.

“Derek played fine,” McDaniels said. “We have to do better around him in the second half. To put the quarterback in a third-and-long and ask him to overcome it on his own certainly isn’t a good formula for success.

“In the first half, we played the game basically the way we wanted to. Ahead on the down and distance, and we could be more aggressive because the down and distance were in our favor. But we lost control of that in the second half .”

After all the craziness of the second half and the fourth-down conversions, penalty flags, replay reviews and everything in between, the Raiders’ offense still looked as if it might come through.

Needing just a field goal to win in overtime after a defensive stop, Carr led the Raiders inside the Cardinals’ 40-yard-line and on the verge of Daniel Carlson’s range before Hunter Renfrow’s fumble was returned for a 59-yard touchdown.

It was the culmination of a complete collapse.

”They’re a good defense,” McDaniels said. “They’re fast and physical, and they deserve some credit for that, too. But at the end of the day, we have to produce no matter what the defense is doing whether we’re running it or throwing it.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.